Wondering what happened to the Ubaldo Jimenez the Indians thought they were acquiring? Look no further than his disintegrating mechanics.

Ubaldo Jimenez is a fascinating example of how a pitcher performance can turn sour due to the influence of mechanics.

Ben Lindbergh recently noted the precipitous drop in Ubaldo's fastball velocity, which has lost four full ticks since his 2010 breakout, averaging just under 93 mph so far this season. Never known for his control, the right-handed Jimenez has reached new heights with the free pass in 2012, handing out 6.3 walks per nine innings compared to a career rate of four walks per nine. His ground-ball percentage has also suffered a decline, dropping 10 percentage points from two years ago to contribute to a homer rate that is almost double his career average. All of his stats are trending in the wrong directions, with a career-low K rate and an AL-high 25 walks allowed over six starts.

The Indians rolled the dice on Ubaldo Jimenez and must now fill holes for 2012.

Kiss 'Em Goodbye is a series focusing on MLB teams as their postseason dreams fade—whether in September (or before), the league division series, league championship series or World Series. It combines a broad overview from Baseball Prospectus, a front-office take from former MLB GM Jim Bowden, a best- and worst-case scenario ZiPS projection for 2012 from Dan Szymborski, and Kevin Goldstein's farm-system overview.

Why the Playoff Odds Report is right to doubt the Indians, plus why a common method of rating managers might be wrong.

The Cleveland Indians have been slumping a bit of late. After sweeping a six-game homestand against division rivals Kansas City and Detroit, they won the first game of their second west-coast swing of the season to capture their seventh consecutive win. In the eight games since, however, they have won only three games, alternating victories and defeats at Oakland and Anaheim before dropping two of three contests against the Rays at home. With the Royals concurrently taking two of three from the Yankees, the Indians’ lead is down to four games in the loss column.

Even with their recent struggles, the Indians maintain the largest lead of any first-place team, the second-best run differential in baseball, and are on pace for 104 wins. Nonetheless, our Playoff Odds Report, which repeatedly simulates the remainder of the season, has show scant love for them, with their chance of winning the division consistently rated below that of the Tigers, who currently trail them by five games in the loss column.

Expected to be an afterthought in the AL Central race, Cleveland has instead notched the league's best record. Can the Tribe keep it up?

On Sunday, Grady Sizemore returned to the Indians lineup for the first time since last May 16. After grounding out inauspiciously in his first at-bat, he hit a towering home run to right field in his second, and laced a double in his third. It was a performance much more reminiscent of the three-time All-Star center fielder who hit .281/.372/.496 from 2005-2008 than the shell of one who batted just .239/.328/.410 in 2009-2010, as troubles with his left knee set him on the road to microfracture surgery.

Pegging BP's favorites in both leagues, both in the standings and for the major awards.

Today we reveal the Baseball Prospectus staff predictions for the division standings and the major player awards (MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year) in the American and National Leagues. Each staff member's division standings predictions may be found later in the article. Here, we present a wisdom-of-the-crowds summary of the results. In each table you'll find the average rank of each team in their division with first-place votes in parentheses, plus the results of our pre-season MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year voting.

For the MVP voting, we've slightly amended the traditional points system in place that has been used elsewhere, dropping fourth- and fifth-place votes to make it 10-7-5 for the MVP Award, and the regular 5-3-1 for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year Awards (that's 5 points for a first-place vote, 3 points for a second-place vote, etc.). Next to each of these selections we've listed the total number of ballots, followed by the total number of points, and then the number of first-place votes in parentheses, if any were received.

Evaluating the Indians' performance over the past few years based on won-loss record may be unfair.

Success is a subjective term, with its boundaries open to interpretation. In baseball, success usually means having many more wins than losses throughout the season, so in that literal sense, the Indians’ past few seasons have lacked success. They have more losing seasons (six) than winning seasons (three, if you include a .500 season) since 2002. Prior to 2002, the Indians had made six playoff appearances within a seven-year stretch—including five straight berths and two advancements to the World Series. From then on, the team has gained entry to the tournament only once, and even that experience left a bitter taste in the proverbial collective mouth of Clevelanders.

The Indians have won 215 games over the last three seasons, a disappointment when juxtaposed to the three years prior, in which they tallied 267 victories. That's an obvious decline, sure, but the team remains a success story of sorts as the Indians work under a different set of circumstances. The little team that could saber is a distinction now reserved for another franchise, but the Indians are not too shabby in front-office talent themselves. The proof resides in the numbers—specifically the payroll totals. Providing factoids about the Indians' payroll can be illuminating; for instance, the sum of Cleveland’s 2008-2010 payrolls equal the Yankees’ 2010 payroll. It's more helpful to look at how often the Indians should reach the playoffs based on their cash outflow.

Pegging BP's favorites in both leagues, in the standings and for the major awards.

Today we reveal the Baseball Prospectus staff predictions for the division standings and the major player awards (MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year) in the American and National Leagues. Each staff member's division standings predictions may be found later in the article. Here, we present a wisdom-of-the-crowds summary of the results. In each table you'll find the average rank of each team in their division with first-place votes in parentheses, plus the results of our pre-season MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year voting. Picking favorites for the Wild Card for the respective leagues initially might have seemed easy, since the selections universally favored the second-place team in the AL East, while all but two voters picked their second-place teams in the NL East to earn the non-division champ playoff team, but a tie in the rankings had to be broken in favor of the team named the Wild Card winner on the most individual ballots, which is sure to upset some people.

For the MVP voting, we've slightly amended the traditional points system in place that's been used elsewhere, dropping fourth- and fifth-place votes to make it 10-7-5 for the MVP Award, and the regular 5-3-1 for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year Awards (that's 5 points for a first-place vote, 3 points for a second-place vote, etc.). Next to each of these selections we've listed the total number of ballots, followed by the total number of points, and then the number of first-place votes in parentheses, if any were received.